Taking over somebody else’s bike mission is a chance. Low costs can lull you right into a false sense of safety, particularly once you’re motivated and succesful—two qualities that Fuel & Oil Bespoke Bikes have in abundance.
Polished, high-end {custom} bikes are Fuel & Oil’s standard fare, so this fantastically filthy Honda XL500 flat tracker is a little bit left subject for them. It was initially delivered to their Prague workshop in quite a few bins, however as a result of it was an XL500 and the worth was proper, store boss Mat?j Sysel purchased it.
As quickly because the basket case was unfold out on the workshop ground, the crew skilled the extra painful aspect of shopping for an unfinished mission; quite a few components had been damaged or lacking. With this realization, the thrill of a brand new mission waned, and the Honda XL500 was mothballed till they may resolve what to do with it.
One factor was sure, although—the bike was destined for race use solely. “A: we had been drawn to flat monitor racing,” explains Mat?j, “and B: the bike didn’t have registration papers. Progress was sluggish, and we used leftover components from buyer builds, as a result of we didn’t wish to put an excessive amount of cash into it.”
Selecting a flat monitor race bike made the construct course of easier, since most of the components that had been lacking or damaged had been now out of date. Working between extra urgent tasks, the Fuel & Oil crew step by step remodeled the ratty Honda into a dust track-ready machine.
Their first step was to regulate the XL500’s geometry to swimsuit flat monitor racing higher. That meant modifications to the subframe, suspension, and wheels.
BMW K100 entrance forks had been lowered and fitted with a brand new steering stem. The rear shocks are fundamental models that had been sourced from the Fuel & Oil spare components pile, however Mat?j means that they’ll seemingly be upgraded quickly.
A shiny set of 19” Excel rims was purchased from a pal of the store (completed in gold, as is the regulation for classic Honda enduro bikes). The entrance hub got here from a Honda CRF250, so a {custom} entrance axle was made to slip into the BMW forks. The entrance brakes had been eliminated too, so the one stopping energy now comes from the XL500’s OEM rear drum brake. Shinko flat monitor tires had been spooned onto the brand new rims, prepared for motion.
The entrance finish additionally sports activities a {custom} flat monitor quantity plate and a set of fork boots to maintain the dust out of the seals. However aside from that, there isn’t a lot to it.
Tall Renthal flat monitor bars sit additional again, with squishy Progrip grips at every finish. A tethered killswitch was put in, together with a brand new throttle meeting and clutch lever.
The brief, slim tank got here from a Yamaha RD, and was barely custom-made to suit the Honda. It’s hooked up to the spine by way of {custom} brackets, and sits forward of a custom-made Alcantara seat.
Fuel & Oil modified the subframe to swimsuit the brand new shocks, that are mounted decrease and additional ahead to optimize the rear geometry for racing. The mixture of the kicked and looped subframe and the thin aluminum fender creates a terrific mixture of basic enduro and flat monitor types, whereas easy quantity plates double up as aspect covers.
The engine that’s at present within the bike is an amalgam of three totally different XL500 models—so the crew is holding a detailed eye on it. However because it’s a single-cylinder Honda, it’s secure to imagine that it’ll stand as much as the fixed abuse that comes from racing.
The burly stainless-steel exhaust was constructed in-house, with the dual exhaust ports coming collectively in entrance of the underside finish, earlier than terminating in an upswept Sharon muffler.
Since Fuel & Oil’s Honda XL500 flat tracker was unlikely to remain clear, the crew picked a livery that they knew would look good when filthy. They painted it in an aesthetic black and gold scheme, complemented by Honda-stylized Fuel & Oil logos on the tank. Then they took it to the monitor to complete it off in layers of hard-fought dust.
Fuel & Oil Bespoke Bikes | Fb | Instagram | Photos by Ondrej Zdichynec
